Merchant of Venus from Fantasy Flight Games
October 22, 2011 by beerogre
Here's a blast from the past... the Merchant of Venus board game has got a "shot in the arm" from the board game masters at Fantasy Flight Games.
Here's a bit of background:
In Merchant of Venus, Aliens sell you their goods, and you’ve got a deadline to hit high market on a distant world. Streamlining your trade route is vital, as is boosting your ride, tweaking it out with all the latest and coolest upgrades. However, money invested in your ship cuts into your bottom line, making it a tough choice each trader will face as they compete to become the richest and greatest space trader.
Pilots, lasers, and shields can help you bypass the hazards of space travel. Increased cargo holds let you transport more goods with each voyage, and better pilots and drives can speed your ship across the galaxy in record time.
Meanwhile, you can pick up passengers able to pay for their rides and eke a profit out of the emptiest stretches of space. Transport enough, and your fame may translate to wealth later on, especially when alien cultures learn about your most distinguished guests.
More than a year ago, Fantasy Flight Games signed an exclusive licensing contract with Wizards of the Coast, LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., to return this classic 1980’s board game of interstellar trade and exploration to print.
Since that time we’ve been working hard to produce what will be a fantastic edition of Merchant of Venus, one that remains true to its magnificently campy core, while expanding the game in surprising ways that will cause even the most hardcore fan to celebrate.
It all looks like good clean fun...
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So FFG and Stronghold Games both have the rights to this game? It seems FFG got the liscence from Wizards of the Coast (who bought Avalon Hill, the original publisher of Merchant of Venus), while Stronghold got the rights from the designer. I wonder, who actually has the legitimate rights to the game?
So much for the clean fun eh? 😉
it could get messy…lets hope not cut off your arm payment messy
They’ve also just opened a position for a paralegal. 🙂
Seems its going to all be rather amicable. We shall have to see, but I would prefer to see FFG remake this just because of the sheer quality of their products. But who knows. From Stronghold Games “It has come to our attention that Fantasy Flight Games has laid claim to the license for the reprint of “Richard Hamblen’s Merchant of Venus”. First and foremost, Stronghold Games bears no ill will towards Fantasy Flight Games over what can only be deemed as an unfortunate situation. In fact, we remain fans of Fantasy Flight’s work within the game industry. However, over… Read more »
Amicable? Reading what you’ve posted above I hear Wagner in the background … 😀